Tuesday, December 5, 2017

EU Blacklists 17 Countries as Tax Havens

EU finance ministers have blacklisted 17 non-EU countries for offering unfair tax avoidance schemes. Over 40 more countries were placed on grey list and given time to comply with he EU/international standards.

The backlisted countries are American Samoa, Bahrain, Barbados, Grenada, Guam, South Korea, Macau, the Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Namibia, Palau, Panama, St Lucia, Samoa, Trinidad & Tobago, Tunisia and the UAE. The EU said those blacklisted had refused to cooperate and change their way after almost one year of consultations.

The blacklist is considered an important “first step.” However, the fact that the EU member states could not agree on any sanctions for the blacklisted caused the European commissioner for economic and financial affairs, Pierre Moscovici, to call it as yet “an insufficient response”.